edging and billing

[mikeslawnservice]

I have a question: Maple City said on a previous thread that doing Edging is an added profitable service. My question is, how do you bill it as an additional service??

[Showcase Lawns]

Exactly, that is what i thought too. Im not trying to say u dont do a quality job Maple City but we usually wont just mow the lawn with the rare exception that it is next to one of our existing jobs and they edge and trim theirselves so it looks decent and just dont want to mow it. Most of the time the people who just want u to mow are cheap and dont egde and trim theirselves then when u drive off the job it looks like u just dont do very nice work( which isnt going to help u pick up new accounts) Just my 2 cents worth

[maple city]

I did a $75.00 edging job for a customer last week who mows his own lawn. He doesn't own an edger. There was 3-4" of overgrowth that he could not have gotten without a machine.

Most homeowners don't own an edger. It is less expensive and easier for them to hire me to do their edging the first time than to buy an edger, or sit outside with a shovel trying to hand edge their walks. Once the excessive overgrowth is taken care of, they can maintain it with a trimmer themselves for the rest of the year.

Yes, I do edge all my mowing accounts for free with their seasonal mowing. But I don't limit myself to edging only for the people I mow for. Every job I do is mowed, trimmed, edged, and blown. I don't have any accounts that I Mow only. I wouldn't take an account where the homeowner wanted to do the trimming and edging themselves.

We probably do $500.00-$1000.00 per year of edging-only customers. They call me once to get the overgrowth taken care of and maintain it themselves.

Also, if I do a one-time mow for someone, and they want edging done, it is extra. I only do edging for free with a seasonal mowing agreement.

[mikeslawnservice]

The edging is NEVER free though maple city. It is figured into the price. I never even thought about billing it like that. I have seen tons of homes where the homeowner mows the lawn themselves, but never trims. Maybe I could leave some flyers in their doors selling that service. And thanks for clearing up the rest for us.

[Showcase Lawns]

Hey maple i guess i just understood u wrong i was thinkin u were going out and doing a bunch of like 10 or 15 dollar edgin jobs its well worth ur time to do a 75 dollar edging job. Down here most the people own edgers so i guess its a little differnt situation. I might try doing a little advertising for that though just to see what happens.

[maple city]

I have seriously thought about selling the trimming only idea. It makes me itchy when I see a nicely mowed lawn with 2' tall grass around the mailbox, etc.

The $75.00 was a corner lot. We charge more if they want the curbs done as well as the walks. The curbs here are really in bad shape, so that jacks up the price. Here, if you don't keep your edging up yearly, it really gets overgrown. Most people don't own edgers, and don't want to mess with it.

Don't know what kind of edgers you guys have, but have you tried the star or 8-point edger blades? We were using the star blades but had a hard time getting them around here. I looked in J. Thomas and they have those as well as 8-point blades. Got one 8-point to try it out. Real good prices.

[Maddog]

I have picked up a few like this. They don't have edgers and their sidewalks, driveways etc edged. I charge by how bad it is overgrown and if I get them on a routine basis I lower the price after once it is under control.